Oxygen Atom Stabilization by a Main-Group Lewis Acid: Observation and Characterization of an OBeF<sub>2</sub> Complex with a Triplet Ground State
Terminal oxygen radicals involving p- and d-block atoms are quite common, but s-block compounds with an oxygen radical character remain rare. Here, we report that alkaline-earth metal beryllium atoms react with OF<sub>2</sub> to form the oxygen beryllium fluorides OBeF and OBeF<sub>2</sub>. These species are characterized by matrix-isolation infrared spectroscopy with isotopic substitution and quantum-chemical calculations. The linear molecule OBeF has a <sup>2</sup>Π ground state with an oxyl radical character. The <sup>3</sup>A<sub>2</sub> (<i>C</i><sub>2<i>v</i></sub>) ground state of OBeF<sub>2</sub> represents the unusual case of a triplet oxygen atom stabilized by a relatively weak interaction by the Lewis acidic BeF<sub>2</sub>. The interaction involves both a donor component from oxygen to empty Be orbitals and a back-bonding contribution from fluorine substituents toward oxygen.
Authors
- Sebastian Riedel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4552-5719)
- Marc Reimann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3728-2983)
- Xiya Xia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-4443-8479)
- Martin Kaupp (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1582-2819)
- D Meyer
- Guohai Deng
Institutions
- Technische Universität Berlin (DE)
- Freie Universität Berlin (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of the American Chemical Society
- Published
- 2024-08-15
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.4c07079
- Citations
- 3
- Primary Topic
- Inorganic Fluorides and Related Compounds
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.48
Funders
- Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Freie Universität Berlin